Chapter 2: The Trial

[King V]

"Sorry, this witness seems to be hearing things. There is obviously someone who does not exist, who seems to be interfering with the trial. This witness will proceed to ignore this person who obviously does not exist and continue onward."

"This witness does not see anything which requires debate. No daggers have been presented to us in trial, therefore we have no idea whether or not such a dagger even exists. It is impossible to construct a theory where the culprit scales multiple floors without evidence of how the culprit scaled those floors, and we have no evidence except the portal for which the culprit can use to access the 1st or 6th floors. There is no evidence, therefore a theory cannot exist. Logic continues to prevail."

[John Dark Souls]

Mishy? who was all this time standing seemingly thinking and not making a slightest sound suddenly speaks out.
"This is really stupid. I'm not Mishy but I completely can't comprehend. Why is Monika supposed to be the culprit? I saw that all rooms on 6th floor were unlocked leaving nothing to privacy. Anyone could've grabbed any dagger they wanted. In fact, daggers Nanashi looted were apparently missing too which only shows that somebody DID take daggers away. Just look at that Pierrick cartwheeling all around. Mishy participated in the cartwheeling contest with him once. I can guarantee how acrobatic he is. So I'm 100% sure with his acrobatic skills he could've done every single step of this ridiculous murder more than easily. In fact, Monika stated in her own testimony that she went to her room right away, last thing I remember, Monika's room didn't have a hole, and if she was in her room, culprit wouldn't be able to take her dagger."

"In first place, just look at how Pier is acting, why is nobody mentioning something about how weird that is? He sounds absolutely bored of our current situation. And that could lead to a motive to try to become lord and spice things up or die trying. I can see how Pier could be a culprit, but not at all why Monika would be one. And so he clearly must be the culprit."

[Monika]

"................"

Monika takes out her dagger and it shows the number 16.



"Ahaha... looks like I've been found out. It's true, I am the culprit. Sorry about that."



"Admittedly, I do feel bad about this, but I just wanted to meet my club members again and enjoy my time together with them. I wanted to meet him again too... I suppose this is the end for me, ahaha. Or is it? I'll leave some parting words... Always remember-"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

-The roulette's spinning draws to a close and everyone votes on whom they believe killed Owen-


-The roulette's spinning ceases, and the marker balls finishes one last rotation before it slides into one of the sockets over the face of a Monika-


-Cessair spreads her arms wide and bows before the group-


Cessair: "Now the question is....Did Monika really Kill him? Did she attempt to ascend unto lordship and cast you into darkness? The answer to that question is...Yes! Silver, if you would explain! Also! Do it while following me please! Itriot, carry Monika! Everyone, Follow me!"

-Everyone begins to follow Cessair out of the Complex as Silver Mask explains the details of this case-



Silver Mask: "I shall explain what transpired during this ascension attempt. This scenario began when Monika determined she was going to kill someone and ascend. She had recognized that Owen went to the Iron Stars gym most days and was almost always alone, terribly unlucky for him really. With this in mind, she created a plan to kill him and then create an alibi for herself. Specifically to get to Iron Stars without being spotted, get back upstairs, and then arrive at the 11 AM 'summons' from the elevator, making plenty sure she was seen by the people there. Based on the premise that travel out of the Clash Complex requires passing through the Commons she would claim it was impossible for her to commit the murder. She then began to determine a method to perform the impossible move to bypass the Commons. The only option was the 4th floor window as it is the only exit other than the commons that can be opened naturally. She determined that she would need to be able to get back into the window after killing Owen. She saw the nearby buildings that had floors higher than the window and had an idea. A Hang Glider. It only needed to work well enough to get her across one street so it was possible."

-Silver Mask takes a deep breath-

Silver Mask: "Monika spent the night prior to the murder preparing for this trick. She planned her route after breakfast to be from the 6th floor, through the 5th floor via a hole in the floor, down the elevator and out the front door of the commons, over to  Iron stars, out and onto the roof of the buildings closest to the south side of the complex, through the 4th floor window, then down through the kitchen and restaurant to the elevator, where she would go down to meet everyone for the meeting. After planning her path, she placed all the tools she needed en route so she didn't need to spend time getting them later. She built the glider atop the roof of the building she intended to jump from and hid it there. She left scissors hidden in the 4th floor so she could cut and mangle the glider as much as possible before heading to the meeting. She broke the fourth floor button inside the elevator to reduce the investigations effectiveness regarding the hidden glider. She had prepared a general timeline as well for this to avoid any people coming to the meeting while making her move. She wanted to kill Owen as close to the meeting as possible to make it look like he had been killed just minutes prior, to further help her scheme, so she time it so she would be arriving just at or after 11. Of course, this entire scheme had a problem when Rin blocked the elevator."

-Silver Mask takes another breath-

Silver Mask: "Rin sealing the elevator was a major problem for Monika, as she could not longer sneak out of the complex. Having already left all her tools hidden en route, she determined it was too risky to wait another day to try the crime as they might be found, which would ruin it. She proceeded to come up with a new plan, one that still utilized the window to enter the complex, but as an exit. She determined that her best option was to use the laundry chute to get down to the 4th floor and then return. She went from her room, through Axel's room and the hole, down to the 5th floor. There she collected the sheets she would need to make a rope from the 5th to 4th floor, and enough to get to the 2nd floor of the complex. She couldn't make a rope that went all the way down as it would hang in front of the commons door and be extremely obvious. At this point, the sheets she had taken for the glider were already hidden on the roof as well, so they were not used for the rope."

-Silver mask takes yet another deep breath-

Silver Mask: "Monika used her dagger, the only sharp object in her possession, to hold the rope from the 5th to the 4th floor by pinning it to the floor. She tossed herself down the chute with the sheets for the second rope and collected her hidden scissors. She used the scissors and the foot of a nearby washing machine to anchor the end of the second rope before climbing down to a window sill on the second floor. She dropped to the ground from there. She was not injured from the fall though it certainly was not pleasant. She ran to Iron Stars to meet with Owen and offered to help him complete one last set before going to the meeting. During the set she used the bar and choked out Owen. She then ran to her hang glider and leapt across to the 4th floor window. She came in a bit high and while she landed on the windowsill, the nose of her glider smashed into the wall and slipped off, falling to the ground below. She intended to remove it anyway and ignored the loss. She folded the pipes together and slipped them threw the window, before pulling up the sheet rope. She then spent time cutting apart the glider, though the duct tape proved a tad too formidable for the scissors, so she ended up shoving the remainder of the contraption into Itriot's robes. She then undid all the sheets for the second rope and toss them into the laundry bin. She ascended her rope to the 5th floor, reclaimed her dagger and tossed those sheets into a random room there. Pressed for time, she used the night stand and hole in the room below Axel's to ascend and return to her room. Around this time it was approaching 11 and she joined the others, acting like nothing had happened."

-Silver mask sighs-

Silver Mask: "And that covers the path that led to Monika's Ascension attempt here. Sadly, it has ended in failure."

Cessair: "Alrighty! We are here!"

-You all arrive at the front of the Clash Complex where a much nicer looking hang glider has been setup along with some nearby rope. Monika is carried over to it by Itriot who proceeds to tie her to its underside.-

Silver Mask: "I much prefer when we actually just throw them into a fire. Permission to leave?"

-Cessair nods and shoos him off before grabbing another gatling gun sitting near the glider. Silver Mask casually turns and walks back into the Complex-

Itriot: "I am just about ready Cessair! Are you prepared?"

-Cessair spins up the minigun in response!-

Itriot: "Very well! Perhaps in another life we might meet again Monika! Now fly unto the darkness!"

-Itriot casually lifts up the glider with Monika strapped too it and proceeds to take a slight running start before heaving her off into the sky like some kind of paper airplane. Even as he starts throwing Cessair's voice echoes out-

Cessair: "To you who would attempt Ascension and was found wanting! Your light is extinguished by the Darkness you sought to conquer! Now! Vanish unto the Starless Sky in the name of our Starless King!"

-Monika, already several floors above the ground and getting further away, vanishes along with the glider in a hail of gatling gun fire. Its flaming smoking wreckage crashes into one of the blue walls and collapses to the ground on the edge of the open area.-

-Smoke still rises in the distance and the sound of Cessair's bullets clattering against the concrete she raises he voice again-

Cessair: "Thus concludes the second Ascension! I do so hope that who so ever comes next can achieve what she could not! May she rest in the darkest reaches of the Sky! Itriot, Please clean up. I need to go check on the next area I will give them access too. I also need to make sure Silver gets prepared to get back to work!"

-Cessair rapidly leaves, taking her gatling cannon with her. Itriot jogs off towards the wreckage of the glider Monika was executed on, leaving the group to themselves for a period of time-

[THUS CONCLUDES CHAPTER 2 OF STARLESS DUSK]

[AFTER SOME TIME TO TRANSITION THINGS, CHAPTER 3 WILL BEGIN. UNTIL THEN, FEEL FREE TO RP HERE ABOUT THE CASE!]

[King V]

"NO! This witness refuses to believe such a murder took place! The entire plan lacks logic! LOGIC! This must be a scheme by these masked people to induce insanity in the populace! We will not succumb to their ploy! We must believe in LOGIC!"